The famous psychologist and author Dr Lee Jampolsky advises “Nothing needs to change in your life or the world, in order for you to have peace of mind.” He is also the author of the bestselling book titled, “Smile for No Good Reason – Simple Things You Can Do to Get Happy Now”. The book is ‘life-changing’ and has simple wisdom in every square inch of its pages.
Life would be so different if only our attitude was right. There would be no squabbles between families, neighbours, states or nations. Lack of the all important ‘right attitude; makes two different people confront the same issue with different reactions and hence stress and antagonism result. No matter how rich or poor, married or not, healthy or not, jobless or not, each one of us can have peace of mind if our attitude to our ‘situations’ is right and positive. One moment the day is beautiful and suddenly a crisis arises (like a job lost or your child is rushed to hospital) and your life spins on its head. Sometimes even minor things bug us like a punctured tyre or not having a gas cylinder refill on hand.
When tackling a crisis, first breathe in deeply and fill the brain and lungs with oxygen. Then sit down and think of the options available to you. Remember, the worst dampening words are ‘Why does this happen to me only!” Instead say, ‘Oh, this is routine. I’ve handled this before’. Then go about doing things with a spring in your gait. Don’t let anyone or anything ruin your moment, day, week, month or year. The psychologist-author, Dr. Jampolsky affirms, “There is absolutely nothing in the world that has the power to ruin your day.” The power to ruin or make your day lies only in yourself. We direct ourselves to be negative or positive – to be upset, moody or nasty. Similarly, we have the power to direct our mind to be calm, happy, positive and so on. He emphasizes that “Every time you blame another person for your unhappiness you are giving your power away. Stop blaming and start healing.”
Getting back to “Smile for No Good Reason’ – a smile heals and liberates and, from a victim you become a go-getter in tackling your problems and who doesn’t have them. Goans have forgotten the knack of smiling. Gone is the camaraderie when we greeted each other with ‘Bon dia’ or ‘Good day – how are you?’ in the streets or by-lanes of our villages and cities.
Today we rush off in a tearing hurry with stressed countenances. Tension is reduced with a smile given or returned. Folks in foreign countries have realized the value of greeting smilingly “Good morning. Nice weather!” even if its snowing! Or if the sun is shining weakly, they’ll greet you with, “Good morning. Beautiful sunshine!” That’s positivity of not allowing the snow or sunshine dampen your spirits.
I have noticed my Christian friends have the grumpiest faces when leaving the church premises. They dip their fingers in the holy water, bless themselves and walk past scowling at you. Haven’t they spent one hour in the presence of God and received his Holy Body in communion – that should bring a smile on their faces, surely? In the foreign lands that I visit, people leave the church smiling and hugging each other in joy. Some Sundays, they even share a chocolate bagel and coffee interspersed with loud guffaws straight from the heart, before proceeding home. So smile at everyone even if they think you’re a bit loony – you know the power of a smile, right?
